Stephen woodwabd



(No Moel.)

S.-WOODWARD.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Nov. 20; 1883.

a I Z j@ r\\\ Z/ l\\ Y l uvm. k

ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

STEPHEN WOODWARD, OF FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FREDERICK FLANDERS, OF SAME PLACE.

KNITTING SPEGIFICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,962, dated November 20, 18837.

` Application filed November 3, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN Woonwnnn, of Franklin, in the county of Merrimac and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and Improved Knitting-Machine, of which the `following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My improvements relate to ribbing attachments for knitting-machines, the object being to provide for working any desired number of ribbing-needles, so that changes can bemade from ribbed to plain work, or vice versa, 'without the :necessity of changing the needle-operating cams or employing other usual devices for throwing a portion of the ribbing-needles out of operative position. To that end I place the plate carrying the horizontal needles above the cam-plate and make use of jointed needles, which can be turned up, so that while all the needles are operated by the cam only those turned down work the yarn, as hereinafter described and claimed. Y

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciiication, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a vertical section of a knittingmachine provided with my improved attachment. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the needleplate. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan vie'w of the needle-plate. Fig. -ct is a plan view of the cam-plate.

The needle-cylinder A and cam-ring B are of ordinary construction. C is the cam-plate of the ribbing attachment, and D the dialplate. lower end of afiXed shaft, @that 'is secured at its upper end by a set-screw in an eye, d, on the end of the iixed arm e of the machine. The dial-plate D rests upon the dial cam-plate, and is attached to the ends of a yoke, b, which is provided with a screw, c, entering the lower end of shaft a. The plate D is provided at its under side, as shown in Fig. 3, with slots for the shanks of thev needles, and`up0n its upper side with a raised rim or flange, f, that is formed with slots for the hooked ends of the needles to rest in. rIhe dial cam-plate, `as

shown in Fig. 4., is formed with a groove, which is engaged by the lugs or projections of the needles, so that they shall be moved in and out when the plate is rotated. The hooked The cam-plate C is attached tothe ends of the needleslare separate pieces jointed to the main portion or the needles at i, so that the barbed ends can be turned upward, as illustrated in Fig. 1 and the ends of the jointed portions are formed square, to rest upon the needle-plate when they are raised, so that they shall be retained in their raised position. The yoke b is rotated with the needle-cylinder by the contact of the projections k thereof with the arms of the yoke.

In the operation of the machine, when the jointed ends of the needles are turned downward, the work is ribbed by adding to the number of stitches formed by the cylinderneedles the stitches formed by the dial-needles. In changing from plain to ribbed work, as many dial-needles as may be required are turned down and set to work, as described, while the original number of cylinder-needles are kept in use, both in plain and ribbed knitting. Thus the ribbed portion will contain as many more rows of stitches than the plain work does as there are dial needles used. When it is desired to make the Work partly ribbed and partly plain, the jointed ends of the required number of needlesl are to be turned upward, the loop on each being previously transferred to the cylinder-needles, and, the machine being then operated, all the needles will still be worked in and out bythe cam; but the yarn will be operated upon only by those having their hooked ends turned downward. 'Io knit all plain, all the dial-needles Z will be raised. In this manner the work may be done all ribbed,partly plain andpartly ribbed, or all plain without the necessity of changing the needle-operating cams.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. The jointed needles Z, combined with the dial and dial cam-plates, substantially as shown and described, for use in the manner specified.

2. The combination, with the fixed dial cam-plate C, of the upper dial-plate, D, and jointed needles Z, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

STEPHEN VVOODVARD.

Witnesses:

DANIEL BERNARD, E. H. S'rUErEvnn'r. 

